Personal background and style[edit]

In addition to singing and playing acoustic and electric guitar, Haynes is also a songwriter. He spent his formative years in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was born, and lived with his two older brothers and his father, Edward Haynes. He began playing guitar at age 12. His primary guitar is a Gibson Les Paul '58 Reissue Electric Guitar. His choice of a '58 is most likely because of Duane Allman's famed '58 Les Paul and the tone he achieved with that, rather than the more commonly used '59 Les Paul model, popularized by guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page).

Haynes has referred to himself as a "Gibson man", often playing Gibson Firebird and Gibson ES-335 models as well as the Les Paul models. This was acknowledged by the American guitar maker Gibson Guitar Corp. which has included a limited edition Warren Haynes signature Les Paul in its product line. Built according to Haynes' specifications and modeled on his '58 Les Paul.[5] Haynes is married to Stefani Scamardo, a DJ for Sirius radio and the long-time manager of Gov't Mule.

Influences[edit]

In a 2006 interview with Gibson.com's Backstage Pass Haynes explains his early influences:[6] "When I first started—chronologically speaking—Hendrix and Clapton and Johnny Winter were the first three people I got turned on to. That was the Cream era of Clapton. Then eventually, I heard the Allman Brothers and everybody else from that era that I stole something from (laughs). Of course, I would read interviews with all these people and find out who they listened to. And they all listened to B.B. King and Freddie King and Albert King and Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and Elmore James, so I would go back and discover that stuff."

During the same 2006 interview, Haynes talked about his realization of how much the blues had influenced his one-time employer, David Allan Coe. "When I joined Coe’s band, I realized how much he loved blues. Whenever his voice was tired on tour, we would go out, just the two of us, and open up with a bunch of Jimmy Reed songs. Then segue that into the show. One by one, the drummer would walk on and the bass player would walk on, and eventually the whole band would be onstage. He was really influenced by Jimmy Reed and Lightnin’ Hopkins. That stuff was way back in his formative years, so whenever it came out, it was very genuine." [6]

Professional career[edit]

The early years and David Allan Coe[edit]

Warren Haynes joined David Allan Coe's touring and recording band in 1980 when he was 20 years old. He remained with Coe's band for four years.

Dickey Betts Band and The Allman Brothers Band[edit]

Around 1987, Haynes got a call to perform backup vocals on a studio album by Dickey Betts, along with Dennis Robbins. Betts, who had concentrated on his solo career following the break-up of The Allman Brothers Band, decided to add Haynes to his band as his guitarist after the session. With Matt Abts on drums and Johnny Neel on keyboards, the now formed Dickey Betts Band released the 1988 album Pattern Disruptive. In the same year, Haynes also co-wrote the title track for Gregg Allman's solo album Just Before the Bullets Fly.

In 1989, The Allman Brothers Band decided to reunite, and Betts recruited Haynes to join the band. Also joining were Neel on keyboards and Allen Woody on bass guitar. Haynes has since played on four well-received studio albums, including the gold certified Where It All Begins (1994). He also has played on four official live releases from the band, including the 2003 DVD Live at the Beacon Theatre. Haynes and Woody left the group in March 1997 to focus solely on their side project Gov't Mule. Shortly after Woody's untimely death on August 26, 2000, Haynes began appearing with The Allman Brothers Band again in 2000 alongside young guitar prodigy Derek Trucks. He returned to the band as a full-time member a few months later and has remained active every year with the Allman Brothers since. On January 8, 2014, Haynes and Trucks jointly announced their respective plans to leave the ABB by the end of 2014, following the conclusion of the band's celebration of its 45th anniversary.[7]

Gov't Mule[edit]

In 1994, Haynes formed Gov't Mule with Abts and Woody. Haynes and Woody initially split time between Gov't Mule and The Allman Brothers Band, but after The Allman Brothers' last show of their 1997 run at New York's Beacon Theatre on March 26, 1997, both left the band to focus on Gov't Mule full-time. They released three albums and became known for their powerful live performances. Some of these performances have been released as official live albums (Live at Roseland Ballroom, Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends and Mulennium; the latter two capture consecutive New Year's Eve shows).

On August 26, 2000, Allen Woody died unexpectedly. Following his death, a decision was made to finish the tour acoustically as the "Smile at Half-Mast" tour. Gov't Mule released two studio albums (The Deep End, Volume 1 and The Deep End, Volume 2) and a live album/DVD (The Deepest End, Live in Concert) featuring many of Woody's favorite bass players. In 2003, Andy Hess (bass) and Danny Louis (keyboard/organ) were added as permanent members to the group. Late the following year, this lineup released their first studio effort, Deja Voodoo, which later included an EP of newly recorded material titled Mo Voodoo. After recording 2006's High & Mighty, Gov't Mule also released a dub EP titled Mighty High and a DVD titled Tale of 2 Cities that contained two full performances recorded in 2004 and 2006. The two shows on the DVD captured the first show of the Deja Voodoo Tour and the last show of the High & Mighty Tour, serving to encapsulate what was created over those two years. In 2008, Andy Hess left Gov't Mule to pursue other projects and was replaced by relative unknown, Jorgen Carlsson. By a Thread, the first studio album from Gov't Mule featuring Carlsson, was released in 2009 on Haynes' own label, Evil Teen Records.

In 2010, they went back to the vault and released Mulennium, a three-disc recording of a show from New Year's Eve 1999 in Atlanta. This was the first official recording released of the original trio since the death of Allen Woody in 2000. It also featured an appearance by Little Milton, one of Haynes's guitar heroes from his youth.

The Dead[edit]

Since the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Haynes has performed and toured with many of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. In 1997, Haynes and Abts came onstage to jam with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman in a small club. The performance was being filmed for Robert Mugge's film on Robert Johnson, Hellhound On My Trail. Then in 1999, Phil Lesh approached him to play lead guitar and sing for his solo group Phil Lesh & Friends, where he played for 3 years. In 2004, when The Dead (remaining members of the Grateful Dead) were in need of a new guitarist, they called upon Haynes to come play lead and sing for that summer's "Wave That Flag Tour". His run with The Dead ended on a night where he came in with them, then performed a solo acoustic set, and then ended the night playing with The Allman Brothers Band and started out on his next tour with them. He played lead guitar for The Dead again in late 2008 when they performed at a benefit at Penn State for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, later touring with them in the spring of 2009.

Solo artist and guest appearances[edit]

Haynes playing an acoustic set with Gov't Mule, early in the band's career, at a record store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In 1993, Haynes released his first solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness (album), which was produced by former Allman Brother keyboardist Chuck Leavell. He toured briefly in support of the record with various musicians, including Danny Louis.

In 2003 and 2004, Haynes released two solo acoustic albums, The Lone EP, a collection of live performances and Live From Bonnaroo which documents his solo performance (part acoustic, part electric) at the 2003 Bonnaroo Music Festival. When not touring with one of his electric bands, Haynes will often take time out to do solo acoustic shows, which include a variety of well-known and rare covers along with his own material. In 2004, Warren Haynes performed five full-length solo acoustic shows, as well as opened 23 times for The Dead and once for The Allman Brothers Band.

After recording Gov't Mule's By a Thread album, Haynes formed The Warren Haynes Band. The group included George Porter, Jr. on bass, Ivan Neville on keys and Raymond Weber on drums. Also joining them on keys was Ian McLagan, as well as vocalist Ruthie Foster and Ron Holloway on tenor sax. The Warren Haynes Band made their debut performance at Haynes' annual Christmas Jam in Asheville, North Carolina on December 11, 2010.[8] The album Man in Motion was released in May 2011 and debuted in the Billboard Top 20. An extensive tour occurred after the release through the rest of 2011; the touring version of the band included Holloway, drummer Terence Higgins of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, bassist Ron Johnson, keyboardist Nigel Hall, and various vocalists, either Foster, Alfreda Gerald, or Alecia Chakour.[9]

Haynes has stated that his further solo efforts might take him into still other fields. "There are other projects I want to do, too," he relates. "I'm interested in recording a singer-songwriter oriented album with more acoustic instruments, a jazzy instrumental CD and a straight-up blues record. But like Man In Motion, those albums will have to wait until the time is right." [10]

The Christmas Jam[edit]

Starting in 1988, Haynes put together an annual charity benefit show, inviting musicians originally from his home town of Asheville who were home for Christmas, the only time of year they would all be in town at the same time. The first show, held at the 45 Cherry club in Asheville on December 29, 1988, was dubbed "The Christmas Jam: Musician's X-Mas Reunion." Some of the artists at the first Christmas Jam were Warren Haynes, Mike Barnes, Crystal Zoo, The Stripp Band, Ronnie Burgin and the McBad Brothers Band.

In the initial years the proceeds from the concert were donated to various charities but eventually the organizers decided to focus on Habitat for Humanity,[11] a charity that builds houses for the disadvantaged. In tribute to his financial support of Habitat for Humanity, a subdivision in Lower Hominy, North Carolina, a suburban township near Asheville, has a street named after Haynes.[12] In 2002, Haynes was presented with the key to the city by Asheville mayor Charles Worley. In 2003, Worley proclaimed December 18 as "Warren Haynes Day" in Asheville.[13]

The event has continued to grow every year and is now dubbed "Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam." Due to increasing audience demand, the show was eventually moved to the Asheville Civic Center, and by then featured many well known artists and friends whom Haynes has played with over the years.

In 2008, for its twentieth anniversary, "The Christmas Jam" consisted of two nights of music; including "The Christmas Jam By Day," [14] a series of events including daytime concerts, movie screenings, and art, photo, and poster exhibits taking place in downtown Asheville on the days leading up to the show. The event reverted to one night in 2009, but retained the "The Christmas Jam By Day," and included the new "Christmas Comedy Jam." [15] The same format was repeated in 2010.

Instructional videos[edit]

Haynes has recorded two instructional videos: Electric Blues & Slide Guitar[16] and Acoustic Slide and the art of Electric Improvisation.[17] He discusses his influences and shows an array of techniques such as "call and response", string bending, vibrato, slide guitar in standard tuning and some acoustic open tuning licks in G and E tunings. For the demonstrations of the electric improvisation section of the second video, he is accompanied by Allen Woody and Matt Abts.

Taping policy[edit]

All of Warren Haynes' projects allow audio taping and trading. He does not approve of video recording or photography of his performances and does not provide access to soundboard patches.[18] Pristine soundboard recordings are available in mp3 and lossless formats up to 24-bit "super high fidelity" for a nominal charge through the band's website and through livedownloads.com (http://www.livedownloads.com/live-music/3,709/Govt-Mule-mp3-flac-downloads.html). The Allman Brothers Band also allows taping and trading, but does not allow distribution of their shows via the internet via applications such as BitTorrent. The reason given for this restriction is that it is more communal to trade person-to-person. In a 2005 USA Today article, Haynes stated that while tape-trading may cut into band profits, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks due to an increased fanbase.[19]

Discography[edit]

This discography lists those releases involving Warren Haynes, including his various bands, other projects and guest appearances.

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.